Stencils for drawing traffic accident diagrams



March 5, 1968 v. J. Dl PANE, JR

STENCILS FOR DRAWING TRAFFIC ACCIDENT DIAGRAMS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 .aL N 19N v Filed Oo't. 19, 1965 :("ll Il Il Il Il Il Il Il 'Il Il Il Il if;

'lll/1111111111!! INVENTOR VINCENT J. Dl PQM-1, JR 5v /ww QTTORN YS March 5, 1968 vv. J. DI PANE, JR 3,371,420

STENCILS FOR DRAWING TRAFFIC ACCIDENT DIAGRAMS Filed OCb. 19, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR VINCENT J. DI PQNQJE.

United States Patent O 3,371,420 STENCILS FR DRAWING TRAFFIC ACCIDENT DIAGRAMS Vincent J. Di Pane, Jr., 89 S. Pennington Road, New Brunswick, NJ. 08901 Filed Oct. 19, 1965, Ser. No. 497,689 6 Claims. (Cl. 33-174) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A stencil for facilitating the drawing of traffic accident diagrams and including a pair of plate members attached to one another for relative pivotal movemeent, each plate member having parallel drawing edges for defining a width corresponding to the width of a roadway in a diagram to be drawn, at least one slot in each plate member medially between the drawing edges for providing roadway centerline drawing edges, and a plurality of perforations in at least one plate member aligned along a straight line and extending a distance along that straight line which is greater than the lateral distance between the roadway defining drawing edges and spaced from one another at intervals equal to that lateral distance divided by a whole number for enabling the construction of diagrams including curved roadways. At least one plate member is also provided with apertures having outline configurations establishing further drawing edges defining a variety of traffic diagram symbols.

picting 'the accident and its environment. While these diagrams are often relatively simple, the increasing complexity of roadways, roadway intersections and roadway markings in combination with the desire to sketch trafiic accident diagrams at the scene of an accident quickly and accurately has made the use of some sort of -drafting implement desirable in drawing such traffic accident diagrams.

It is an object of the invention to provide a stencil for facilitating the drawing of traflic accident diagrams at the scene of an accident.

Another object of the invention is to provide a stencil for drawing trafiic accident diagrams which stencil may be carried conveniently by the person reporting an accident and which provides maximum versatility in depicting the environment of the accident accurately and with a minimum of effort.

A further object of the invention is to provide a stencil of the type described which is relatively simple in construction, enables ease of operation and which may be economically fabricated of relatively inexpensive materials.

The invention may be described briefly as a stencil for facilitating the drawing of traffic accident diagrams, the Stencil comprising first and second plate members attached to one another for relative pivotal movement about a fixed pivot point. Each plate member includes at least two generally parallel, longitudinally extending drawing edges spaced apart laterally for defining a width corresponding to the width of a roadway in a diagram. At least one slot is provided in each plate member intermediate the longitudinally extending drawing edges and gen- 3,371,420 Patented Mar. 5, 1968 erally parallel thereto, each slot being aligned with a line passing through the pivot point and providing an intermediate drawing edge for defining a centerline in the roadway such that the plate members may be arranged for drawing an intersection between roadways defined by the longitudinally extending drawing edges of each member with each roadway having a centerline appropriately aligned therein. The invention also contemplates a plurality of apertures in at least one of the plate members, the apertures having a variety of outline configurations, each aperture providing further drawing edges defining a specific traflic diagram symbol.

The invention will be more fully understood and further objects and advantages thereof will become apparent in the following detailed description of an embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a traffic accident stencil constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2--2 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along -line 3 3 of FIGURE l; and

FIGURE 4 is a. typical trafiic accident diagram constructed with the stencil of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawing, a stencil for drawing traffic accident diagrams is illustrated at 10 in FIGURES l and 2 and has first and second members shown in the form of plates 12 and 14, each preferably fabricated of a transparent synthetic resin material. Plate 12 is provided with a pair of generally parallel longitudinally extending straight edges 16, while plate 14 is likewise provided with generally parallel longitudinally extending straight edges 18. The edges 16 are spaced apart laterally to define a width corresponding to the width of a roadway in a diagram which can be constructed by placing the stencil 10 on a piece of paper or the like and running a drawing instrument, such as a pencil or a pen, along the edges 16 in a manner which will be explained hereinafter. Edges 18 are similarly spaced apart to define a width corresponding to the width of another roadway.

- The two plates 12 and 14 are attached to one another for relative pivotal movement about a fixed pivot point 19 at rivet 20. As best seen in FIGURE 3, rivet 20 passes through both plates 12 and 14 at a point along their longitudinal centerlines and through a relatively thin washer 22 which lies between the plates and facilitates'rotation of plate 12 relative to plate 14 as indicated by the arrows in FIGURE 1. l

Each of the plates 12 and 14 is provided with two elongated slots 24 which lie intermeditae the longitudinally extending straight edges of the respective plates, the slots being generally parallel to the respective straight edges 16 and 18 and alignedwith a straight line passing through the pivot point 19. The slots 24 thus provide intermediate drawing edges for defining a centerline in each roadway delineated by the spaced straight edges 16 and 18 of plates 12 and 14, respectively.

Plate 12 is provided with further slots 26 which are also parallel to straight edges 16 and each of which is spaced between the centerline defining slot 24 and a straight edge 16. Slots 26 may thus serve as guides for drawing lane boundary lines when plate 12 is employed to depict a multiple lane roadway having, for example,

four trafiic lanes.

Plate 14 is provided with a plurality of apertures, each having a different outline configuration, for establishing drawing edges defining a variety of traffic diagram symbols. Thus, apertures 30, 32, and 34 each have an outline configuration for depicting a vehicle, aperture 30 being employed for small cars or other miscellaneous small vehicles, aperture 32 for standard automobiles and aperture 34 for larger vehicles such as trucks or buses. Pedestrians are represented by a symbol comprising aperture 36 which is in the form of the letter P and surrounding arcuate slots 38. The small circular aperture 40 may be employed to spot the locations of poles or trees while the large octagonal aperture 42 will depict a stop sign and the large triangular aperture 44 may be employed to trace a yield sign. Aperture 46 is in the form of the letter X and is lianked by arcuate slots 48 for establishing a railroad crossing symbol. A further symbol depicting a traliic signal light is provided by a series of three circular apertures 50 surrounded by a rectangle made up of slots 52. Finally, apertures 54, in the form of the letter N, and S6, in the form of an arrow, may be employed to indicate the direction of North in a diagram. It will be apparent that further apertures could be provided in other configurations for depicting other symbols. In addition, further symbols may be produced with the illustrated apertures by merely tracing combinations of the edges provided by the configurations of the illustrated apertures. A scale is preferably provided along at least one plate, as shown along plate 12, for purposes which will be explained hereinafter.

Stencil 4may be used to trace curved roadways and traffic circles, as well as other more complex interchanges 'employing curved roadways, by means of perforations 60, two series of which are shown in plate 12 with each of the two series lying along a straight line adjacent a straight edge 16 of the plate. Arcuate lines delineating curved roadways may be traced by holding plate 14 stationary, placing the point of a drawing instrument into a vperforation 60 in plate 12 and rotating plate 12 such that the drawing instrument will trace an arc having a radius equal to the straight line distance between pivot point 19 and the chosen perforation 60. Since perforations 60 are located at various radial distances from point 19, arcs of a multiplicity of radii are thus made available. Thus, at least two of the series of perforations 60 lying along dashed line L are located with respect to the pivot point 19 such that the difference in radial distance between each of these two perforations and the pivot point is equal to the width between straight edges 16 or 1'8 for facilitating the construction of diagrams of curved roadways having a width equa-l to the width between straight edges 16 or 18. For example, the straight line distance between pivot point 19and perforation 61 minus the straight line dista'nce between pivot point 19 and perforation 62 is made equal to the lateral straight line distance between edges 16 and this relationship may be repeated for further perforations to provide for curved roadways having different 'radii of curvature.

Stencil 10 provides additional facilities for obtaining arcs -having a radius either larger or smaller than those available through 1the above outlined use of the perforations 60 lying along dashed line L. Referring now to 4the 'perforations 60 lying along dashed line LL, these -perforations are lspaced at intervals equal to the lateral distance between either the straight edges 16 or the straight edges 18 'divided by a whole number. By placing a pointed instrument through any one of the perforations 460 along dashed line LL and employing that instrument as the center of an arc which may be traced by a drawfing` instrument located in any other of these perforations, a first arc may be obtained having a radius equal :to the total number of intervals between the pointed instiument and Vthe drawing instrument. Since the inter- Ivals are chosen such that a given number of intervals 'will correspond to the 'width between straight edges 16 or 18, a second arc having the same center as the first arc and spaced lfrom the first arc a radial distance equal tothe width of a Aroadway diagram may be drawn by shifting the drawing instrument from the first perforation to a second perforation located a distance away from the first perforation equal to the width between straight edges 16 or 18 while maintaining the'pointed instrument fixed in place and once more striking an arc. For example, where the width between edges 16 is two inches, the spaced intervals between perforatitons -60 along dashed line LL may be made to equal one-half of one inch (the width between edges 16 is divided by the whole number four). By placing a pin through perforation 63 and a pencil through perforation 64, eight inches away, an arc may be traced having a radius of eight inches. The pencil may then be shifted to perforation 65, while the pin remains at 63, and a second arc may be struck having a radius of six inches, thus being displaced two inches from the first arc so that the two arcs delineate a curved roadway diagram having a width equal to the roadway diagram delineated by straight edges 16.

In order to illustrate the operation of stencil 10 a traffic accident diagram drawn with the use of the stencil is shown in FIGURE 4. The diagram illustrates the intersection of two roads 70 and 72. Road 70 is a fourlane highway having a centerline 74 down the middle and lane boundaries 76 dividing the highway into four lanes labeled A, B, C, and D. Roadway 72 is divided by a centerline 78 into a two-lane road which is curved at 79 and which intersects road 70 at an angle as shown. The diagram of the intersection with the centerlines and lane boundaries was easily drawn by merely rotating plates 12 and 14 to the angle of the intersection of road 70 and 72 and tracing the outlines of these members along edges 16 and 18 to obtain the illustrated intersection. Without removing the stencil 10 from the paper the centerlines and boundary lines were also placed in the diagram by the use of slots 24 and 26 which are aligned with edges 16 and 18 to enable their use regardless of the angular relation between plates 12 and 14. The curved portion of roadway 72 was drawn with the aid of perforations 60 as described above. In order to complete the environment 0f the intersection, aperture 42 has been used to place stop sign symbols 80 in the diagram at locations corresponding to the actual locations of stop signs at the intersection. vIn addition, aperture 40 was utilized to indicate a seres of poles 82 lying adjacent one side of roadway 70 and apertures 54 and 56 have been employed at 83 to show that roadway 70 runs north and south.

An accident has occurred in the intersection. Automobile 84, having failed to vstop as directed by one of the stop signs '80 has entered the path of a truck 86 traveling south in lane A of roadway 70. The truck 86 has collided with automobile 84 driving the automobile 84 into one of the Vpoles 82 and has itself been deflected into lane B of roadway 70. A small automobile 88, which had been proceeding south in lane B and which was passing truck 86 at the time the truck was deflected into lane B has been struck by the truck and deflected from its southerly path across lanes C and D striking a pedestrian who was waiting to cross roadway 70. The final resting positions of each ofthe vehicles 84, 86 and 88 is readily drawn on the diagram through the use of apertures 32, 34 and 30, respectively, while the pedestrians position has been drawn with aperture 36 and slots 38. A more complete diagram would also indicate actual measurements from a chosen reference point to each vehicle and to the pedestrian, as well as the width of the roadways. These measurements have not been included in the diagram of FIGURE 4 in order to retain an uncluttered illustration. However, such measurements are easily inserted by choosing a reference point, i.e., a pole 82, and laying out the measurements from that point tothe various symbols. In this connection, the scale along plate 12 could be employed to attain the desired relative distances in the diagram so that the diagram is generally dimensionally proportional to the actual scene of the accident.

It is noted that since each plate 12 and 14 actually constitutes a complete template for tracing a roadway including lane dividing lines and since the plates are pivotally mounted for relative rotation it becomes a simple matter to set up a wide variety of intersections in stencil and to trace such intersections with minimum manipulation of the stencil.

It will be apparent that stencil 10 is relatively compact despite the large diagrams which may be produced through the use of the stencil. Plates 12 and 14 are generally rectangular and may be pivoted into coextensive arrangement for ease of handling and convenience of storage.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment shown. The invention is broad in scope and should not be limited except as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A stencil for facilitating the drawing of trafiic accident diagrams, said stencil comprising:

first and second plate members attached to one another for relative pivotal movement about a fixed pivot point, each member including at least two parallel, longitudinally extending drawing edges spaced apart laterally for defining a width corresponding to the width of a roadway in a diagram to be drawn;

at least one slot in each plate member medially between said longitudinally extending drawing edges and parallel thereto, each slot being aligned with a line passing through said pivot point and providing a substantially medial drawing edge for defining a centerline in said roadway such that the plate members may be arranged for dravin'ng an intersection between the roadways defined by the longitudinally extending edges of each plate member, with each roadway having a centerliine appropriately aligned therein; and

at least one of said plate members being provided with a plurality of perforations aligned along a straight line and extending along said straight line a distance greater than the lateral distance between said longitudinally extending roadway defining edges, said perforations being spaced from one another at intervals equal to the lateral distance between said longitudinally extending roadway defining edges divided by a whole number for enabling the construction of diagrams including curved roadways.

2. The stencil of claim 1 wherein at least one of said members is provided with apertures having predetermined outline configurations for establishing further drawing edges defining a variety of trafic diagram symbols.

3. The stencil of claim 1 wherein at least one of said plate members has at least two further slots parallel to said one slot, each further slot being spaced medially between said one slot and one said longitudinally extending roadway defining edge for providing further drawing edges defining lane boundary lines in a multiple lane roadway.

4. A stencil for facilitating the drawing of trafi'ic accident diagrams, said stencil comprising:

first and second plate members attached to one another for relative pivotal movement about a fixed pivot point, each member including at least two parallel, longitudinally extending drawing edges spaced apart laterally for defining a width corresponding to the width of a roadway in a diagram to be drawn;

at least one slot in each plate member medially between said longitudinally extending drawing edges and parallel thereto, each slot being aligned with a line passing through said pivot point and providing a substantially medial drawing edge for defining a centerline in said roadway such that the plate members -may be arranged for drawing an intersection between the roadways defined by the longitudinally extending edges of each plate member, with each roadway having a centerline appropriately aligned therein; and

at least one of said plate members being provided with a series of perforations, each perforation of the series being located at a different radial distance from the pivot point such that upon holding the other of said plate members stationary, said one plate member may be pivoted and a drawing instrument placed in any perforation therein will trace an arc of predetermined radius, the difference between the radial distances from the pivot point tot at least two of the perforations in the series being equal to the width between the longitudinally extending roadway defining edges.

5. The stencil of claim 3 wherein at least one of said members is provided with apertures having predetermined outline configurations for establishing further drawing edges defining a variety of traffic diagram symbols.

6. The stencil of claim 3 wherein at least one of said plate members has at least two further slots parallel to said one slot, each further slot being spaced medially between said one slot and one said longitudinally extending roadway defining edge for providing further drawing edges defining lane boundary lines in a multiple lane roadway.

' References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,600,545 9/ 1926 Hooper 37-76 1,633,163 6/1927 Crouse 33-1 1,633,903 6/1927 Perrin 33-101 1,636,637 7/ 1927 Hutchison 33-102 3,096,586 7/1963 Albright et al. 331-26 LEONARD FORMAN, Primary Examiner,

R. A FlELDS, Assistant Examiner, 

